Anxious world awaits answers on omicron variant

“World, meet omicron,” writes Rachel Gutman in The Atlantic. “Omicron, meet a lot of people who are very, very anxious to know more about you.” 

The three big questions on epidemiologists’ minds: Is it better at spreading from person to person than previous variants? Does it make people sicker? And will it evade immunity created by vaccines or previous infection?

The World Health Organization’s speedy action in labeling omicron a “variant of concern” suggests it believes at least one of the answers will be “yes.” 

There are two ways scientists can go about gleaning some early answers. One is to grow monkey kidney cells in a lab, along with the new virus, and test how they interact in a dish. For example, does adding serum from fully vaccinated individuals make it harder for the virus to enter the cells?

The other route is to watch and wait as case counts, hospitalization and death rates come in. Either way, results should start to dribble out within weeks. 

There are reasons to be worried: The new variant sports a stunning number of new mutations, leading scientists to speculate it evolved in a single person with a compromised immune system, or even in an animal population, as Kai Kupferschmidt reports at Science. Such mutations could stymie antibodies trained on older variants. In South Africa, where it was first detected, omicron is spreading fast and causing many reinfections, suggesting either high levels of transmissibility or immune evasion — or both.

But there are also reasons to be optimistic: Early anecdotal reports suggest symptoms are often mild, although this could reflect the younger average ages of those infected so far. And many people already possess at least some level of immunity. Even if antibodies can’t prevent infection, experts predict T cells still stand a chance to vanquish it. Antibodies detect only the spike protein’s exterior, while T cells can bind to bits of viral proteins chopped up and displayed on the surface of infected cells. Studies suggest that T cell responses are less fazed by viral mutations, writes Cory Stieg at CNBC’s Make It.

Omicron also appears to have borrowed sequences from another coronavirus that causes the common cold, which could contribute to both higher transmissibility and milder symptoms. 

Pfizer’s CEO Ugur Sahin told The Wall Street Journal that its vaccine will probably still prevent severe disease. However, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told the Financial Times that vaccine efficacy will probably drop. Both companies have started developing omicron-specific vaccines, which could take just a few months to produce.

As for treatments, some antibody medications — based on just one antibody, with one binding site — may be in trouble. Antiviral medications, such as Pfizer’s pill, have a more generic approach and are more likely to work on variants.

“Omicron could, of course, turn out to be pretty much anything,” writes The Atlantic’s Gutman. She even speculates that a highly contagious but mild variant could out-compete delta to become the main circulating virus, plus possibly give people who catch it some immunity to future variants without the risk of severe symptoms. “That might even be a good thing,” writes Gutman, “a perfect variant, just in time for Christmas.”

Nursing homes open to visitors without mandates or boosters 

In mid-November, the federal government lifted nearly all restrictions on visitors to nursing homes. The move, which took place before the omicron story broke, ends a 20-month policy that distressed residents and loved ones. The guidelines now only restrict visitors who have tested positive for the coronavirus or meet quarantine criteria.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which issued the guidelines, noted that 86% of residents and 74% of employees are fully vaccinated, nationwide.

Yet the American Association for Retired People, while praising the change, noted that the death rate among nursing home residents has recently risen to about 2,000 people per month in recent times, a much greater rate than in early summer, before delta spread widely.

“Some doctors and families now worry that the pendulum has swung too far, that fully reopening will leave an already vulnerable population prey to another surge,” writes Paula Span at The New York Times.

Meanwhile, a federal judge halted the Biden administration’s requirement that all health facility workers be fully vaccinated.

And amid a scattershot booster rollout, there’s little data yet on how much boosting nursing homes have been able to achieve, reports Reed Abelson, also at The Times.

“You need to vaccinate residents and vaccinate staff and you need to get boosters in them,” said Scott LaRue, chief executive of ArchCare nursing homes in New York. “It’s a life-or-death matter.”

Biden administration announces response to new variant

The White House, while encouraging Americans not to panic, has nevertheless promised it’s “pulling out all the stops” against the potential omicron threat. 

The strategies announced last Thursday include more vaccination campaigns, testing travelers, and making at-home rapid test kits reimbursable by private insurance. 

Yet Biden must also keep the economy going, and the public’s fed up with restrictions. Lockdowns are reportedly not on the table.

The new variant quickly led to a travel ban focused on several African nations, though U.S. citizens are allowed to return home. Many experts have criticized such bans, as has the World Health Organization, reports Smriti Mallapaty at Nature. They’re too late to stop the virus’s spread — it’s already here — and may hamper the shipment of key lab supplies for viral genetic surveillance in some nations.

Incoming international travelers will be required to show a negative COVID test within the previous day before boarding their flight; earlier regulations allowed three days. Biden also extended the mask mandate for all major modes of transportation until March 18, 2022.

The new plan also strongly promotes boosters; the CDC last week updated its guidance for low-risk adults from “may” get a booster to “should” get a booster.

“Many of the experts who were opposed to boosters now believe that the shots may offer the best defense against the new variant,” writes Apoorva Mandavilli in The New York Times. Boosters should amp up both antibodies and T cells. The presumption is that a more robust immune response, even if it’s not perfectly matched for omicron, is a better bet.

News outlets face familiar catch-22

As the omicron story broke over Thanksgiving break, news providers pivoted from turkey recipes to epidemiology. That quickly led to a debate over how much coverage was appropriate, as media critic Jon Allsop lays out at Columbia Journalism Review.

Editors and publishers have no good option right now: If they hype the variant and it turns out to be a dud, they look bad. If they minimize the threat and it turns out to be a major turn in the pandemic, they look bad.

“The story here is that we don’t know what’s going to happen next,” writes Allsop. While news articles with headlines like “Here’s what we know about Omicron” proliferated, some outlets focused on the uncertainty, such as MIT Technology Review’s “We still don’t know enough about the omicron variant to panic.”

Washington Post reporter Dan Diamond suggested over-reporting is the safer choice. “No one wants to sound alarm unnecessarily,” he tweeted, “but failing to warn about potential risks is a bigger sin in public health, especially if actions now could protect people.”

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WASHINGTON —  The Department of Veterans Affairs publishes new cybersecurity strategy, Nov. 4, to protect against exposure of Veterans’ personal information or the corruption of critical data.

Veteran data is of great interest to adversaries who seek financial gain and other types of exploitation.

Loss or compromise of information can place Veterans and the department’s mission at risk. To safeguard against fraudulent activities VA developed a strategy outlining a measurable and effective framework enabling the protection and resilience of VA’s most critical business functions and assets.

“As we continue to rapidly advance technology across VA, this strategy provides an agile framework to address the challenges of today and adapt to the technologies and threats of tomorrow,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough. “This comprehensive approach practices accountability and transparency, while remaining hypervigilant of cyber threats — charting a course for success at the individual and enterprise levels.”

The strategy outlines five goals focused on maintaining a robust and resilient technology environment that advances VA’s mission, including:

• Secure and protect VA and Veteran information;
• Protect information systems and assets;
• Leverage innovation to strengthen cybersecurity;
• Enhance cybersecurity through partnerships and information sharing;
• Empower VA mission through cybersecurity risk management.

The Cybersecurity Strategy aligns to and enables the FY18-24 VA Strategic Plan. It takes into consideration existing and new Federal cybersecurity requirements, Executive Orders, technological advancements, innovations and world events that have impacted the way VA delivers services. VA’s Cybersecurity Strategy can be found here 

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The Golden Era Running Team has long been dedicated to drug prevention. Red Ribbon Week is a drug prevention awareness campaign observed annually on the last week of October. It began as a tribute to fallen DEA special agent Enrique Camerena in 1985. Citizens of his hometown in Calexico, California, opted to wear red ribbons to honor his sacrifice.

The movement became so popular it spread to other states when it was adopted as a national anti-drug campaign by First Lady Nancy Reagan in 1988 when she coined the phrase, “Just say no” to drugs. The DEA declared Red Ribbon Week to be the nation’s largest and longest-running drug awareness and prevention program in the country. Today, a new generation of synthetic drugs plague the nation like never before. The most deadly are Fentanyl and Carfentanil, especially among our youth.

VITAL INFORMATON REGARDING CARFENTANIL:

1. One microgram of Carfentanil, about the size of two grains of salt, is lethal.

2. Carmentalnil is produced in underground laboratories in China and shipped to the United States.

3. Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than Fentanyl, 4,000 times more potent than heroin and 10,000 times more potent than morphine.

4. Carfentanil was developed in 1974 as a tranquilizer to sedate large mammals such as elephants and was soon taken off the market because of its dangerous impact.

5. Drug dealers “cut” their supply of other drugs with Carfentanil. Unsuspecting users have no idea what they are getting.

It is an established fact that education is the most effective weapon against such lethal narcotics. The Truth About Drugs Running Team urges community partners to help save lives by incre4asing awareness of drugs and help young people make informed decisions to live their lives free of drugs.

The Truth About Drugs program is said to be the largest international, most comprehensive nongovernmental drug education and prevention program of its kind. Overseen by the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, the program provides effective drug education resources: videos, booklets and other teaching aids in 20 different languages. These materials leave our young generations adequately informed of the danger of all illegal drugs.

Educators praise these hard-hitting materials for making an impact on young people, inviting them to make educated decisions about the use of drugs.

All Truth About Drugs materials are available to anyone free of charge to parents, educators and community leaders. They can be downloaded from the Drug-Free World website.

Golden Era Productions operates a state-of-the-art film and audio facility that produces audiovisual information and training materials for social betterment activities and humanitarian initiatives. For further information, visit https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts.html

The San Jacinto Valley has a large illegal drug problem, especially among unknowing young people. So it is well-advised for all to know as much as possible about prevention from overdosing or death with such drugs. One life saved is a life spared. Especially if it is your son or daughter.

Just sayin’ rustystrait@gmail.com

Rusty Strait | Senior Reporter

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Actually, the term they use is “dangerous individuals,” and arguably what these expelled guys regularly spew out is dangerously crazy. Alex Jones was given the boot, along with removal of links to his Infowars site, which constantly puts out extremist conspiracy theories. So was Louis Farrakhan, but most of those on the do-not-vie list were either on the far right, or even further right, out there in Goofyland.

The problem with censorship is in who decides who’s dangerous. One guy’s “dangerous” is another one’s provocative, or perhaps someone who is just a worthwhile but annoying dissenter. Do you want Mark Zuckerberg, some other techie or businessman or, most ominously, a government official deciding who’s “dangerous”? Obviously, the bozos who were kicked off Facebook (and Instagram, too) have a screw loose.

Society would be a better place if their fantasies were not shared with anyone, much less everyone on the planet, but who draws the line?

Trump’s millions of supporters consider themselves victims of anything and everything. The president knows that, and he speaks their aggrieved language. It’s all a giant plot, he thunders, to discriminate against conservatives by shutting down the ideas they’d express
over Facebook, Twitter and all the other media that claim to be everyone’s megaphone.

Now he and his accomplices have come up with another opportunistic scam to exploit that paranoia. The White House has released a form. If anyone out there believes he or she has been discriminated against by the sinister guys who run social media, he or she can fill out the form. It’s not just another way to push the buttons of his frightened faithful; instead, Trump claims it’s available to everybody, no matter what the political outlook.

It asks for contact information: name, address, email address, along with citizenship and residency status. Additionally, it seeks links and screenshots of any material posted that was allegedly censored. Danger! Danger! Your email addresses alone are gold. Anyone who provides that information can expect to be barraged with fundraising appeals. No word on whether the Russian trolls will have to list where they’re from.

Much of the other information requested on this innocuous form has a potential to be scooped up and put in some database somewhere, just like the ones controlled by Facebook and all the others.

In the process of constructing this global mess, the social media brainiacs just may have created a problem that does not have a solution. In addition to the perils of censorship, we
have on the other side the insidious potential of misinformation, gross distortions and hatred put out there for the gullible to lap right up. Maybe the technology has seized control.

Notwithstanding that broken clock, time doesn’t stand still. Nor, as Trump suggests, can we return to the past. Thanks to technology, and our own unwillingness to responsibly filter what we read on the internet, the future may be splattered with even more ignorance and hate.

Bob Franken is an Emmy
Award-winning reporter who
covered Washington for more
than 20 years with CNN.

Visit HSJC for the cutting edge opinion pieces

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